The 700 United States Marines President Donald Trump deployed to Los Angeles over a month ago will begin withdrawing from the city, Pentagon officials said on Monday.
The decision comes weeks after the administration announced the withdrawal of half of the nearly 4,000 National Guard soldiers also deployed to LA.
Trump sent the federal troops to the city in early June, arguing that they were needed to quell protests against the federal immigration raids. Though, the military personnel only guarded the two federal buildings located in downtown LA and Westwood.
In a statement Monday, Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell claimed the Marines’ presence “sent a clear message: lawlessness will not be tolerated.”
Local officials and law enforcement criticized the deployment,saying the show of force was unnecessary from the start and only inflamed the already high tensions.
“It was so personal and infuriating to me to see 700 of my brothers and sisters in the Corps deployed to my backyard,” said State Sen. Caroline Menjivar,a Marine veteran. “We did not sign up to intimidate and perhaps take military action against Americans on American soil, who were exercising their constitutional right to protest.”
Menjivar, the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, noted that “some service members did not want to support this action or play any role in [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE, in deporting people, because they consider immigrants part of their communities, or they themselves had immigrants within their own families.
“We take great pride in being the first in a family of immigrants, proud to fulfill the dreams of our parents who wanted better for us when they came to this country,” she added. “But that pride can rip when a country turns its back on you.”
The decision to withdraw the Marines came minutes after Menjivar and LA Mayor Karen Bass held a press conference at LA Mission Collage in Sylmar, denouncing the presence of the troops in the city.
“Our voices were heard,” said Bass upon hearing the declaration. “[Marines] were never needed for crowd control. They are not trained in crowd control. they’re trained to fight on foreign lands, and hopefully they will be going back to defend our nation.
“I am hoping that as they leave Los Angeles, they are not going to another city to be inappropriately deployed,” she added.
When the Trump administration began its mass ICE raids in LA, the administration was trying to “send a message with our city,” said bass, that “if they think they can get away with it here, then they can get away with it anywhere.”
Flooding the Zone with ICE Raids
Meanwhile, border czar Tom Homan has vowed to “flood the zone” of “sanctuary cities” with ICE agents to overcome their lack of cooperation with Trump’s deportation policies.
The pledge followed the arrest of two undocumented men after a customs and Border protection (CBP) officer suffered gunshot wounds in new York’s Riverside Park on Saturday night.
“Every sanctuary city is unsafe. Sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals and President Trump’s not going to tolerate it,” said Homan. “I’m going to work very hard … to keep president Trump’s promise and his commitment several weeks ago that sanctuary cities are now our priority. We’re going to flood the zone.”
Even though Angelenos fought back against the administration with protests, “Know Your rights” trainings and organized community defense patrols, they were still terrorized by masked men kidnapping people without a warrant from outside schools, hospitals, places of worship, courthouses and jobsites.
“this is about everyday working people who are trying to survive and who are not being able to as of the climate of fear that has been placed over us,” said Bass. “We know that over 60% of the people who were detained had no criminal record at all.”
She further noted the economic impact of the raids. The estimated $130 million used to deploy troops to LA, Bass said, could have instead been used for various benefits to the city, or for providing troops and veterans with public assistance.
“The economic factor needs to be talked about,” said Bass. “The economic factor of wasting taxpayer money.The economic factor of, as long as this climate of fear continues, people are not going to go to work; they’re not going to patronize businesses.”
Many businesses and public spaces are now empty as undocumented residents shelter at home out of fear.The San Fernando Swap Meet, for one, is a shell of the normally bustling marketplace it once was on a Saturday.
resisting ICE Raids
However, hope is on the horizon for Angelenos, as the month-long aggressive county-wide immigration sweeps have appeared to slow down this past week after a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order against the federal goverment.
The order, brought forth by a coalition of civil rights, immigrant rights and local government agencies, argued that the raids violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by performing warrantless stops on people who appear to be Latino. It further asserted violations against due process rights and access to counsel in immigration detention centers.
“We’re winning in the courts,” Menjivar said, adding that there are two state laws in the works that are aimed at protecting immigrants from unjust arrests.
“have you noticed that you have no idea who these people are?” asked Menjivar. “You see the slit of their eyes, and that’s about it. Are they wearing a badge? What’s their [badge] number? None of that is being shown. So you have no idea who is kidnapping these individuals.”
One proposed piece of legislation would require federal immigration authorities to identify themselves – as local law enforcement is required to do – by displaying their badge number and not wearing a mask.
Another would limit ICE’s access to certain “protected areas,” such as schools, churches and hospitals – a policy that was rolled back on Trump’s first day in office.
Recently, 36-year-old Milagro Solis Portillo “was forcibly dragged kicking and screaming out of a side exit of [Dignity Health] Glendale Memorial Hospital by three plain-clothed people with face masks,” community activists wrote in a statement.
Despite her doctors stating it was not medically advisable and her attorneys arguing it would be detrimental to her health, Portillo was relocated to an Orange County hospital before being taken to the High Desert Detention Centre in Adelanto.
Dignity Health released a statement on July 7, noting that “the hospital cannot legally restrict law enforcement or security personnel from being present in public areas, wich include the hospital lobby and waiting areas.”
the proposed state law would enshrine protections for these “safe spaces” into California law.
“We’re trying to pass laws and stay within a box when they’re not following the rule of the law, the law of the land,” Menjivar acknowledged. “While we can not prevent a bounty hunter from coming, we’re trying to do as much as possible [to protect Californians].”
Legislators need to stay flexible and adjust, much like when faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, said Menjivar. Her staff has been meeting with community organizers to understand the issues they are facing and how to adapt protections to fit changing needs.
“We’re trying to meet the needs [of the people],” Menjivar stated. “Every day is different, and we’re looking to see what the needs are every single day.”
